Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Film: Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)

Stars: Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Kristen Wiig, Pedro Pascal, Robin Wright, Connie Nielsen

Director: Patty Jenkins

Oscar History: No nominations

Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Do you ever go a while without eating a food, not your favorite food, but a food you like?  I've been dieting for the past seven months (with a slight break this past week for the holidays), but for one of my Christmas "cheats" I really, really wanted Frosted Flakes.  I can't explain this entirely-this is not a food that I ate a lot pre-diet (I can't remember the last time I had had the cereal), and I assume some commercial got stuck in my head that I couldn't shake, but for months I just had this hankering for Frosted Flakes.  When I had them, it was so satisfying, even if, as I finished it off, I was reminded that this, while enjoyable, is not my favorite cereal.

I had a somewhat similar reaction to the opening acts of Wonder Woman 1984.  Cinematically in 2020, there has been a complete lack in high-budget blockbuster films.  Most movies from last year that would have been giant, effects-driven blockbusters at the box office were delayed (think Black Widow, Dune, and Godzilla vs. Kong), and so there was a gap that I know I've complained about a few times this year, but felt lacking.  You want what you can't have, and so while I thought the first film was middling, the idea of seeing a giant, effects-laden bonanza in Wonder Woman 1984 was much like those Frosted Flakes, a craving I didn't know I had.  And like that cereal, I left satisfied, but remembering that we can do better.

(Spoilers Ahead) The movie takes place 70 years after the events of the first film, so only Diana (Gadot) remains of the "present-day" cast-Etta Candy we catch a brief glimpse of in her old age in a photo, and of course Steve (Pine), her love interest, died in the first film.  Diana now works at a museum, where she befriends a mousy coworker named Barbara (Wiig), who finds a stone that supposedly bestows one wish upon every person that asks for it.  Assuming it to be a fake, both Diana & Barbara make specious asks of the stone, Diana to have Steve returned to her, and Barbara to be "just like Diana."  Of course, it's a movie, so this turns out to be reality-Diana has Steve come back (creating a loophole for DC to bring back Chris Pine), and Barbara becomes "just like Diana" not only confident & desirable, but also with her superhuman, godlike abilities.  They are soon joined by Max Lord (Pascal), who knows the stone is real, and wishes to become the stone, granting himself a genie-like ability to grant wishes, and uses that to start to control the wealth & power of the world.  But the stone has a curse-it takes something from the wisher-Diana's strength, Barbara's decency, and Max's humanity-and as a result this spirals into a chaotic third act as they battle against each other, with Barbara & Max wanting to keep their newfound gifts even to the chagrin of their souls, and Diana finally taking the time to let go of Steve & leave him in the past.

Let's get to the good because I was genuinely looking forward to this movie, and really wanted to like it.  The opening scene is terrific, an Olympic-style battle pitting a young Diana against more advanced warriors, and nearly winning (through cheating), but this title is taken from her by Robin Wright's Antiope who says "no true hero is born from lies."  Wonder Woman, like Superman, is a hero that values truth & morality, even when it's hard, and there's elements of that throughout this movie (comic book films love a theme), and it's a good, colorful start.  The film's best action sequence, and other than the flipping car chase scene in Tenet, probably the year's best action sequence.

The movie's decision to bring back Chris Pine in some ways felt like a copout, but the ending with Diana works better in this theme than I would have expected (and, imho, better than what others have given the film credit for), as Gadot gets an emotional goodbye that we didn't receive in the first film.  It lacks the gut-punch of the first movie, but this is a franchise, not a standalone drama, and so giving the audience closure so they can move on (and Diana can eventually have a different love interest if the writers of Wonder Woman 3 so choose) worked for me.  The more I thought about it, the more I realized that there was no way you could have sequels to this film without having a better sendoff to Pine, and this gave us that finality.

That being said, the movie does not succeed.  No action sequence in the film ever comes close to what was achieved in the opening moments, and frequently it feels like it was filmed on the cheap for certain fight scenes (like the late act between Wiig & Gadot), which it wasn't (while Midnight Sky or Mank might have been intended for the small screen, WW84 had a gigantic budget & should've been able to live up to that cash, which it doesn't).  Gal Gadot also doesn't add enough depth to her Diana-she's great at charm & kicking butt, but other than her teary goodbye to Steve, I didn't feel like we learned more about her (admittedly difficult-to-play superhero), or what she wants in life other than a man.  I hope they fix that in the third film, as a generic superhero would be such a waste for a franchise this popular.

But the worst part of the movie was the length.  Superhero films that try to squeeze in two villains almost always fail, and that's the case here.  On their own, Pascal & Wiig are doing interesting work, but they both are enough plot for one movie, and without time to breathe, their plots are totally clipped. Pascal (best in show, for my money) has his entire backstory (which involves bed-wetting for some reason?) glossed over in a series of wordless clips, and so we don't get an understanding of him for the big climax.  Barbara, Wiig's character, we get a solid setup for (and I loved the first half with her-Wiig as a villain was an inspired choice, and the kind more casting directors should take), but she gets sloppy in the back-half, with her transformation into Cheetah coming out of nowhere, and Wiig doesn't know how to ground this character once the writers try to make a her a straight-dramatic villain rather than one with some camp.  The movie is already too long, and the fact that we're still complaining about strange editing choices...this clearly would've functioned better as two movies & Warner/Jenkins were likely too far along before they realized that.  As a result, I didn't like WW84 even if I'm still intrigued enough by the franchise to give it another shot in the inevitable sequel.